I would I had a troop of mercenaries to rent out. It
were easier than such scouring of the country as this. Moreover we do
exceed our office. The king said not to me, 'Walter Skinner, scour the
country.' Nay, the king said naught to me on the matter. 'Twas his
favorite, Sir Thomas De Lany, that bade me watch the castle from the
tree; and there might I be now in comfort, if this hare-brained youth
had not run away. He should have stayed at the castle till the coming
of Robert Sadler and the troop. My face had not been thus lacerated had
the youth known his duty and done it."
"Why, how makest thou all this?" demanded Richard Wood, contemptuously.
"The king careth not whose hand delivereth the youth, so that he be
delivered. That we have not already caught him is the fault of thyself
alone. Hadst thou but held thy tongue, we had had with us to-night six
men-at-arms, and had, erelong, run down the game. In the morning I go
to Hubert le Falconer and hire from him six more--three for thee, and
three for me. Then do thou be silent as to the king's purpose, and this
mischief of thy making may be repaired.
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